Hidden Gem 2024: A finish line tradition: Yellowjackets provide levity, entertainment at the end of the race – HF Chronicle

Don’t ask the Yellowjackets to borrow one of the yellow jackets. 

“We’ve been asked to loan them out,” Michael Goldberg said. “It’s kind of like Batman’s suit. It only goes on when you’re going to action.” 

The Yellowjackets are Goldberg, Jon Elfner and Terence Peter Smith. Each is a longtime resident of Homewood or Flossmoor. They don the amber blazers, and the moniker, as they do the public address, comedy relief and emcee work at the finish line of the annual Hidden Gem half marathon in Flossmoor.

They’ve been part of the Gem since its beginning in 2019. Betsy Cutrara, one of the race directors, knew Elfner was in the band Not My Dad and owned a speaker system. She asked him to call the end of the race. 

“I said ‘Sure, but I’m going to do it with two friends and we’re going to have some fun with it,’” Elfner said. “We laid out the idea to her and she loved it.” 

Elfner brought on Goldberg and Smith, who’s also in Not My Dad, and The Yellowjackets were born. Goldberg, the other two members say, is the group’s leader.

The trio decided to wear yellow blazers as a nod to Keith Jackson, Howard Cosell and Don Meredith, who wore similar ones as they broadcast Monday Night Football on ABC in the 1970s. Once that decision was made, the name became obvious.

The personality they’ve become known for was a product of the Hidden Gem organizers giving them the freedom to do what they wanted to do. 

“Our purpose was to call the race and have fun with each other, to entertain each other. You think of 8th-grade boys in the basement with a reel-to-reel deck putting on radio shows together. That’s our style,” Goldberg said. “We have fun together. If that comes across as entertaining, that’s great.”

Friendship is key to what the Yellowjackets are. They have a comfort level with each other that they believe brings out their best. A chemistry that was strong before they started doing this is even better now. Each has unofficial roles and nobody steps on anybody else’s toes.

“If other people were doing it that didn’t know each other, I think they’d be fighting for attention or fighting to be the funniest,” Smith said. “Like Goldy said, we’re just a bunch of kids hanging out. But that gives you a little bit of freedom and safety to know that you’ve got each other’s backs. You’re not going to let each other look stupid.” 

The first race was admittedly clunky, at times. They had issues with technology. They felt like they had to fill all of the airspace. There was no blueprint for what to do, so they had to fill in the blanks as they worked. 

Now, they have a pre-race meeting to prepare. The jokes and banter are still spur-of-the-moment, but they plan out certain songs to play or which runners or spectators to interview and when. 

They prepare for the serious parts of the race, too. If a runner is in position to set a record or hit a milestone, they want to be sure to bring attention to it. Flossmoor Mayor Michelle Nelson runs every year, and they try to mention her as she finishes, too. 

“We should never be the focus,” Smith said. “You want the center of attention to be the athletes and the family members and friends who are standing along the street cheering them on. That’s what makes this work. It’s important for all three of us to never get in front of that.”

Some runners ask for a shout out as they cross the finish line, and they try to accommodate them, too. Others ask for a specific song. Running clubs from throughout the Midwest look for a mention, too. 

The Jackets try to make a big deal out of the winners, but also the final finishers.

“We do have to call the race. It needs to be called,” Elfner said. “These runners have trained for months to accomplish something serious, and we don’t want to make their accomplishment feel trivialized.” 

The show would work in other settings. The group says they would consider expanding beyond one September Saturday a year, if the right opportunity presented itself. They’ve been asked. They called an old timey baseball game at Flossmoor’s centennial celebration this summer. 

But the Hidden Gem will always be where they got their start. They’re fond of the race and everything it represents. They have a private ceremony or sorts as they put on the coats before they walk to their seats. They enjoy talking to participants about running on residential streets or through the band and cheerleaders on the Homewood-Flossmoor High School campus. 

“That first gem (in 2019), when people commented about how amazing it was to run through the neighborhoods, and the neighborhoods all came together for support, was tremendous,” Goldberg said. “That’s just what they built with the Gem and the commitment and love of our community.” 

It’s not lost on the Yellowjackets that they are part of something bigger. 

“We are a very small part of this very large organization and so many people around the community are putting in an enormous amount of time and effort to create a great event,” Elfner said. “Every year, they let us set up a stage, grab a few microphones and just reflect the joy that we see in this event.”